I had an honours student last year who compared the information provided on official drug iformation site to that given on sites like blue light and pill reports.
There has been nothing much done directly in this area that we could find.
Boyer, Shannon and Hibberd (2001): “24 percent of college students used the Internet to obtain information on illicit substances, and 27 percent of Internet-using college students reported that Internet use increased the likelihood that they would use drugs”
Brewer (2002) “increased exposure to information on the Internet would cause searchers to have more accurate knowledge about club drugs”
Halpern and Pope (2001) “these same groups are also avid users of the Internet, a potential source of underground information on hallucinogens” "there is an extraordinary wealth of online information * albeit unchecked for accuracy * on how to obtain, synthesize, extract, identify, and ingest a vast range of hallucinogens”
Maxwell (2003) “The drug scene today is impacted by the Internet, in which ‘underground’ websites provide thousands of pages of information on how to obtain, synthesize, extract, identify, and ingest substances which have not been medically evaluated for dose range, effect, risk, or abuse liability. At the same time, government websites contained information that was later withdrawn as more current findings emerged”
Koesters et al (2002), “some anti-drug sites used scare tactics and exaggerations that were ignored, whereas pro-drug sites contained anecdotal or incomplete information that could lead the unaware user to increased use”
There is quite a bit on the use of the Internet for health information which we were able to draw on.
Marj
Dr Marjorie Kibby,
Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture
Faculty of Education and Arts
The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia
Marj.Kibby at newcastle.edu.au
+61 2 49216604
>>>monica.barratt at postgrad.curtin.edu.au 05/03/06 11:09 AM >>>
Thanks Monica,
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of drug
studies that utilise websites and web-based surveys to collect data on
illicit drug use (similar trend across other health and social behaviours) -
the work at Northumbria is good example of this.
I'm more interested in exploring how drug users are using the internet, for
example, sharing information and experiences at www.bluelight.ru and
www.pillreports.com . Dance music and 'lifestyle' online forums also tend to
have drug-related content (though not in such an open way as bluelight and
pillreports). It appears that some people post questions and share
information in order to change their drug behaviours so that they will have
a better time, whilst decreasing risks/harms, in a peer environment.
I would love to hear any comments, ideas, that anyone has on this topic! to
my knowledge there has not been research conducted in this area - I'm keen
to know whether I have missed this research if it has been conducted.
Regards,
Monica
Monica Barratt
PhD Candidate
National Drug Research Institute
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987
PERTH WA 6845
t: +61 8 9266 2735
f: +61 8 9266 1611
m: +61 407 778 938
e: monica.barratt at postgrad.curtin.edu.au
-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of mwhitty
Sent: Tuesday, 2 May 2006 9:22 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] Scholarly databases for internet studies?
There has been similar work conducted at Northumbria:
http://www.hcnu.com/drugsPub.html
Monica
Dr. Monica Whitty
Queen's University Belfast
School of Psychology
David Keir Building
Northern Ireland
BT7 1NN
Phone: +44 (0)28 9097 5654
Email: m.whitty at qub.ac.ukhttp://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/staff/teaching/whitty/profile/
-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Monica Barratt
Sent: 02 May 2006 10:31
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-l] Scholarly databases for internet studies?
Hello,
I've just started my PhD and am investigating a topic a little outside my
usual field - which is illicit drug studies from a multidisciplinary
perspective (psych, sociology, epidemiology, public health, etc). I'm
looking into online forums where drugs are discussed - the working title is
currently "Exploring online drug discussion groups: the experiences and
perspectives of 'networked' recreational drug users"
I was wondering if there is a scholarly database specifically for internet
studies, or alternatively, what databases would you recommend I access when
trying to find literature pertaining to specifically to online forums (and
internet studies more generally). For example, I'm looking to review methods
and ethical approaches among a cross-section of studies where online forums
have been used as a data source to inform my own work - I've found material
by browsing relevant journals and picking up citations whilst reading more
materials, but it's not particularly systematic!
Thanks in advance for your assistance,
monica
Monica Barratt
PhD Candidate
National Drug Research Institute
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987
PERTH WA 6845
t: +61 8 9266 2735
f: +61 8 9266 1611
m: +61 407 778 938
e: <mailto:monica.barratt at postgrad.curtin.edu.au>
monica.barratt at postgrad.curtin.edu.au
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